JOYFUL MOMENTS

Obama supporter tugs at viewers' hearts

Ronnie Cho labored tirelessly in obscurity to help get Barack Obama elected president. Now HBO's behind-the-scenes documentary of the 2008 campaign has made the 27-year-old a star. The first generation Korean-American, so poor as a child in Arizona that his family lived in a car, is the first member of his family to graduate from college. He devoted himself to Obama's optimistic message of the hope and change. Scenes of an utterly spent Cho weeping with joy when Obama prevails are said to have brought a tear to the eye of the president himself.

SLOW DOWN

Christmas promotions under way

It's downright spooky, that's what it is, and we're not talking ghosts of Halloween just past.

Hoping to capitalize on the shopoholics' frenzy, retailers are displaying their Christmas and holiday wares ever earlier. There's something very wrong when Santa's being trotted out before the pumpkins have yet to leave their patches and the Thanksgiving feast hasn't even been planned. Slow down, consumeristic America. 'Tis not yet the season.

TOUCHDOWN

More football to watch while waiting for the arena league to resume

If you can't stand to watch Warrior football anymore and are looking for something else besides the oodles of other college games and, of course, the NFL, now there is also the UFL — the United Football League — a new professional football league whose games can be seen on the Versus cable channel, usually on Thursdays. Its first season began Oct. 8 and will culminate Nov. 27 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. It has only four teams so far (the California Redwoods, Florida Tuskers, Las Vegas Locos and New York Sentinels), playing in seven mainland cities, but there are a lot of well-known names in the mix, including Dennis Green, Jim Fassel, Jim Haslett and Ted Cottrell as the head coaches. Of local interest is that Fassel's first pro coaching job was with the Hawaiians of the World Football League in 1974.